Netherlands beat Nepal to finish seventh
Netherlands defeated Nepal by 45 runs while Papua New Guinea beat Hong Kong by 58 runs to register their first wins of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier on Saturday (March 17) in their 7th and 9th place playoffs respectively.
A combined effort with the bat followed by Roelof van der Merwe’s heroics with the ball helped the Netherlands crush Nepal and finish seventh in the tournament.
Despite scoring just 189 for 9 in 50 overs after opting to bat first at the Kwekwe Sports Club, the Netherlands came out all guns blazing to bowl Nepal out for a mere 144 in 44.4 overs.
Chasing a below-par score, Nepal, who were recently rewarded the One-Day International status, got off to a poor start and lost both openers by the 11th over. Paras Khadka (22), the captain, and Dipendra Singh Airee (25) hung in there for a while before the former became van der Merwe’s victim.
Having been reduced to 76 for 7, Sompal Kami (53-ball 36) had brief partnerships with KC Karan (13) and Sandeep Lamichhane (14), but at the end were left with too much to do.
While van der Merwe claimed four wickets at the cost of 20 runs, Fred Klaassen and Pieter Seelaar too chipped in with two wickets each.
Earlier, Kami (4 for 24), the right-arm seamer, wreaked havoc on Netherlands’s top order as they were reduced to 37 for 3 inside 11 overs. While Wesley Barresi and Ben Cooper were sent back for nought, Peter Borren, the skipper, could only manage seven. Max ODowd stuck there for a while and scored a 44-ball 28 before getting knocked over by Lamichhane (2 for 41).
Bas de Leede (91-ball 39) and van der Merwe (46-ball 25) then stitched together a sedate 39-run stand to take Netherlands closer to the 100-run mark. The duo batted with patience and ensured that their team didn’t slide further. Once van der Merwe fell to Lalit Rajbanshi (2 for 38) in the 28th over, Scott Edwards, the wicketkeeper-batsman, also chipped in with 25 runs to take the innings forward.
Struggling at 144 for 8 by the start of 43rd over, Netherlands got the much-required boost from Seelaar (23 in 36) and Shane Snater (23 in 26), as the two put on a 37-run partnership at a decent pace to take their side to a competitive total, which at the end proved way too many for Nepal.
Four apiece from Norman Vanua and Charles Amini assured Papua New Guinea’s first win of the campaign as they took down Hong Kong by 58 runs at Old Hararians in Harare.
Opting to bat, PNG got off to a solid start provided by Tony Ura (49) and skipper Assad Vala (21), the openers who stacked up 68 runs for the first wicket before Hong Kong made deep inroads with three wickets in two consecutive overs to reduce them to 72 for 3.
Chad Soper (40), who came in at No. 5, then joined hands with Amini to offer some resilience but the paltry stand of 37 runs was broken when Amini nicked one off Tanveer Ahmed to the keeper on 21.
Later, Soper paired up with Mahuru Dai for a crucial 59 runs to steer his side’s total to a modest score of 200 in 48.2 overs.
Kinchit Shah, the offspinner, spearheaded the attack for Hong Kong as he decimated the tail with figures 4 for 10. Nawaz and Nadeem Ahmed scalped two wickets each.
While chasing the target, Hong Kong stumbled at the start but were still on course largely due to Anshuman Rath and Babar Hayat as they stitched up 53 runs for the second wicket. Rath and Hayat were the only two who showed some potential to counter-attack but after Hayat fell on 37, the duo of Vanua and Amini wreaked havoc to skittle them on 142 with 14 overs to spare.
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